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Why are Glycerine and Lecithin used together in an otherwise butter/oil formulation?
Hi all,
I’ve been researching recipes just to try a simple body butter and tried a few variations yesterday. I would now like to try one that would be way less greasy to use on the face and sinks in quite well but isn’t a lotion, as such.
I’ve seen a recipe using just oils, butters and essential oil (and usual Vit E) BUT also including Glycerine and Lecithin. No preservative added.
It’s completely thrown me off and I’ve tried to research the uses of these and I’m unsure why both have been used and whether these are the two ingredients I’d need to make the product sink in better (or it’s for an entirely different purpose)?
Any ideas? Thank you
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6 Replies
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Where exactly are you finding these formulae?
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On a product I just bought and have been using at home, that has pretty much every ingredient I’ve been testing with but has lecithin and glycerine added and I can’t work out why. Can you provide any guidance? @Belassi
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Lecithin might be in there to help ‘bind’ oils and butter together?Glycerol is likely for skin conditioning and because people love it. -
Thank you! And they can both be used in an anhydrous cream without the need for a preservative?
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As far as I’m aware you wouldn’t need a preservative, provided that the person who uses it doesn’t accidentally or intentionally add water to the container. If you wanted to have some protection for that eventuality, you may still want to add a preservative.Also, I imagine that the lecithin acts as an emulsifier to be able to incorporate the glycerin with the oils/butters. I haven’t tried it but I don’t think you’d have much luck mixing the two without lecithin.
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Thanks alot for your help
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